IIRC, the large box next to the thruster looks sunward through the cut out in the dish. The dish was probably pretty close to the ID of the payload fairing, so the instrument could not extend out past the OD of the non-notched dish.

Well Phil I am hoping your up comming paper in the british interpalanetary society mag makes mention of my faverite topic, the fate of the star motor of the pioneer 10.I have reason to believe that the pioneer 11 injection aim point was not nominal( wrong side of the planet!) and the upper stage may not be in a solar system escape orbit.Jonathen mcdowell would be intersted in knowing if your research of this project has turned up anything in this reguardcheers mate, and watch out for that speckeld hen and scrumpie stuff those brits drink!

'It's only some art picture but the thrusters may look like the original ones'.

I painted this picture after I saw a story on the late night news program 'Nightline' indicating Pioneer 10 would obtain a last picture of the solar neighborhood as it crossed Neptunes orbit. I soon learned this was not the case and I resolved to create my own version of the view the spacecraft would have. I contacted Peter Waller, then head of NASA Ames Public Affairs, about this and he decided to commission a painting for the occassion. I obtained spacecraft hardware images and made an original perspective drawing of the spacecraft, setting it apart from most other images of the spacecraft which are based on a single drawing from a distinct angle. The navigation people then provided data on where the planets would appear in relation to the Sun, which appear as colored dots shown with exaggerated clarity. I painted this scene with attention thus paid to the details of the hardware as well as the background view. This is a cropped scan from a slide of the original acrylic painting. It is a monument to the days when artists inspired by ongoing space exploration were helped rather than hindered by official sources when they wanted to 'get it right'.

A NASA Ames 8 X 10 paper print I have has this ID felt penned on the back:

AC83-0351-1

I have a copy somewhere with an official caption page taped to the back with a 'key' diagram identifying all the planets. I also have the sketches for the work. At one point I a detailed perspective 'master drawing' of the spacecraft was prepared, a task now done by computer using a digital model.

This is definitively my favorite topic: Pioneer spacecraft near Jupiter and the Imaging Photo Polarimeter (IPP), which aimed according to preset ground commands, measured Jupiter's intensity every 1/1000th of a second in Red & Blue light.After transmission of the number-coded intensities, super-imposition of R & B elements produced two-color images

As promised one more Pioneer hardware photo showing the spacecraft during Thermal checks in 1971:

Hello,

I was a Mission Controller, Jr. at NASA Ames Research Center on Pioneer Project from about June 1979 until December 1979. If I can be of any help here; please let me know. I am an experienced Electronics Technician and was in the employ of TRW Defense and Space Sector in the early 80's.

Hi, could anybody help me with a small Pioneer plaque mistery? There is an article about Voyager spacecrafts live longevity in seriouse czech aviation&space magazine from 1987. Among others there is this picture of plaque with caption mentioning Voyagers. We all know that both Pioneers has this plaque and Voyagers this golden record.It is obviouse that author of that article made a mistake with plaque picture but I would realy like to know what was the source of it. I couldn't find that version of depicted human figures with three children on the plaque anywhere on the internet. Linda Salzman Sagan as an author of Pioneer plaque art work should know if its fake or one of her original drafts, but its difficult to ask her.Maybe someone here would know it as well.Thanks

Edit: latest info says the source of pictures in czech article should be Spaceflight magazine.

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